highlighted as potential sources for genealogical research. Another fascinating insight into real lives lived is a vignette taken from the London Gazette dated 24 April 1679. A Scottish minister called Lawry from Fermanagh was pardoned for killing three notorious ‘Tories’. Allegedly, Lawry was almost shot in the incident but avoided injury as one of his accomplices managed to chop the hand off of the person aiming at him (p. 200). Similarly, Roulston’s description of the annotations of election poll books indicates the rich spoils for those willing to engage in such detailed research. For example, in the 1753 Armagh poll book, Robert Jones was objected to for ‘being seen at mass and giving offerings to the priests’ (p. 180). Perhaps the greatest addition to this updated version of Roulston’s guide is chapter thirteen, which explains how families can delve into records concerning emigration from Ulster. As Roulston admits, there is a significant dearth of evidence as, until 1890, no official attempt was made to record the names of those who left Ireland. Nonetheless, there are places where some information might be found. A section on background reading suggests useful avenues for readers to explore to understand the broader context. A further section details how contemporary newspapers like the Belfast News-Letter occasionally printed letters by passengers expressing their gratitude to various captains for bringing them to America safely. Roulston also suggests that some evidence may be contained in leases and petitions to landlords as often they contain references to tenants about to emigrate or name people that have already left the estate. While this may seem like an exercise in finding a needle in a haystack, the task appears much more manageable thanks to Roulston’s handy appendix that details the most prominent estate collections that concern Ulster landlords. Any amateur genealogist or local historian of Ulster will find this book immensely valuable. It provides a key to unlock the treasure trove contained in the Irish archival record. If any criticism can be made of the book it is that it slightly undersells itself. Although Researching Ulster Ancestors is specifically tailored towards research about Ulster, any genealogist, undergraduate or new postgraduate student would find this book a useful introduction into many of Ireland’s key archives. Those seeking inspiration for potential final-year undergraduate or postgraduate dissertation topics could find some ideas perusing these pages indicating the breadth and depth of Roulston’s expertise and work. In short, this is an excellent work that will prove invaluable to future generations of family historians eager to understand their Ulster roots and budding historians about to embark on their research careers.

中文翻译：

---

书评：特使非凡：科克的斯米迪教授

被列为系谱研究的潜在来源。另一个对现实生活的迷人洞察是取自 1679 年 4 月 24 日伦敦公报的一个小插曲。一位名叫劳里的苏格兰部长因杀害三个臭名昭著的“保守党”而被赦免。据称，劳里在事件中差点被枪杀，但由于他的一名同伙设法砍断了瞄准他的人的手（第 200 页），他避免了受伤。同样，Roulston 对选举投票书籍注释的描述表明，对于那些愿意进行如此详细研究的人来说，收获颇丰。例如，在 1753 年的阿玛民意调查书中，罗伯特·琼斯因“在弥撒中被人看到并向神父献祭”而遭到反对（第 180 页）。也许这个更新版的罗尔斯顿指南最大的补充是第十三章，这解释了家庭如何深入研究有关从阿尔斯特移民的记录。正如罗尔斯顿承认的那样，证据非常缺乏，因为直到 1890 年，才正式尝试记录离开爱尔兰的人的姓名。尽管如此，有些地方可能会找到一些信息。关于背景阅读的部分为读者提供了有用的途径来探索以了解更广泛的背景。另一部分详细介绍了像贝尔法斯特新闻快报这样的当代报纸如何偶尔印刷乘客的信件，表达他们对各种船长将他们安全带到美国的感激之情。Roulston 还表示，一些证据可能包含在租约和给房东的请愿书中，因为它们通常包含对即将移民的租户或已经离开庄园的人的提及。虽然这看起来像是大海捞针，但由于 Roulston 方便的附录详细介绍了与阿尔斯特房东有关的最突出的遗产收藏，这项任务似乎更容易管理。阿尔斯特的任何业余系谱学家或当地历史学家都会发现这本书非常有价值。它提供了解锁爱尔兰档案记录中的宝库的钥匙。如果可以对这本书提出任何批评，那就是它稍微低估了自己。尽管研究阿尔斯特祖先是专门为研究阿尔斯特而量身定制的，但任何系谱学家、本科生或新研究生都会发现这本书是对爱尔兰许多重要档案的有用介绍。那些为潜在的本科或研究生毕业论文主题寻求灵感的人可以在阅读这些页面时找到一些想法，这些内容表明 Roulston 的专业知识和工作的广度和深度。简而言之，这是一部优秀的作品，对于渴望了解阿尔斯特根源的后代家庭历史学家和即将开始研究事业的新兴历史学家来说，这将是无价之宝。